Power hurdle: Many villagers not keen on legal electricity connections

Surveys in many states indicated that many people didn’t want legal electricity connections to avoid rise in expenses, a senior government official said.Sarita Singh | ET Bureau | May 02, 2017, 07:04 IST

NEW DELHI: India’s power-for-all plan is facing an unexpected challenge. Legal electricity connection with bills isn’t attractive for many villagers in several states, because it is a drain on their meagre income.

Surveys in states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha indicated that many people didn’t want legal electricity connections to avoid rise in expenses, a senior government official said. Having electrified nearly three-fourths of the villages targeted under the government programme, the union power ministry and state power ministers will now look at ways around this hurdle to meet the 100% goal.

Bihar, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand have at least half the households without electricity access, said the official, adding that access to electricity and infrastructure wasn’t the most important reasons for this. West Bengal and Odisha have grid connectivity, but affordability of electricity is a challenge, he said. In Bihar, of the houses with no electricity, lack of grid infrastructure is the reason for 43%, a survey has found. In the majority 57%, high connection and recurring costs and unreliable electricity supply led people to avoid legal connections.

Pilferage is rampant in many places, and it is a concern for the government. The union power ministry will deliberate ways to encourage people to take electricity connections to cut pilferage in a two-day conference this week with power ministers of all the states. The Centre has already offered soft loans from Rural Electricity Corp (REC) and Power Finance Corp to state distribution companies to offer electricity connections on instalments to domestic power consumers.

The proposed measures could include spreading awareness on electricity metering, rationalisation of fixed monthly charges, offering connections on easy instalments and strict actions against illegal connections, the official said. The BJP-led central government aims to provide round-theclock power to all by 2019. Its Garv dashboard on village household electrification shows that 74.33% of the targeted household electrification has been completed.

About 1,50,000 new connections are given on an average every month. In April, the number was 1,81,000. However, the official said affordability is emerging as one of the major issues with people not willing to cough up fixed and monthly charges for electricity usage. REC has launched an electrification impact survey in villages that have been electrified for more than six months. It is collecting data on average hours of power supply and new industrial activities to map changes in living standards post electrification.

The surveys showed that a significant number of households aren’t interested in taking electricity connections, the official said. Earlier, a study across six states by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water showed two thirds of unelectrified household didn’t take electricity connections, despite having the grid in the vicinity. “Households cited main reasons as affordability of the connection charges and monthly charges, and unreliable supply,” it said.